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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22493539">More at Stake Than Pudding</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sugarby/pseuds/sugarby'>sugarby</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Code III [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Code Geass</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fluff, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 16:07:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>788</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22493539</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sugarby/pseuds/sugarby</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"My club, my rules, Suzaku."</p><p>Lelouch may sound like his bossy self but Suzaku knows this is really for his sake; a way for him to accept himself rather than pick at the parts others dislike just to fit in.</p><p>(Or at ten years old, Lelouch starts a club and Suzaku is required to pass an important test).</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kururugi Suzaku/Lelouch Lamperouge | Lelouch vi Britannia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Code III [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1613359</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>42</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>More at Stake Than Pudding</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>At ten years of age, Lelouch is still susceptible to boredom.</p><p>The hours that go by in his class are uneventful and long; he can do all the problems and tasks with ease being as he's ahead of his peers by quite a bit and recess is just a way to collect grime and dirt and scraps and earaches from hollered names and screams.</p><p>His boredom reaches a limit one day when he finds all the school clubs to be just as lacklustre as he figured they would. The teachers can think again if they expect he'll willingly join just because it's required.</p><p>That being said, he decides to start up his own after school extra-cirricular. So long as it meets the five member minimum requirement, the club will be officially recognised and it will look lovely on his future applications.</p><p>Lelouch leads a two-person march down the halls, his best friend behind carrying a stack of advertisement posters, "I want to start a club of my own, so that's what I'm doing."</p><p>Suzaku peeks around the stack, "What's it gonna be about?"</p><p>"Important things."</p><p>"Like homework?"</p><p>"More important than that."</p><p>Suzaku gapes, "What's more important than that?!"</p><p>At ten years old but not so precocious, he can't think of anything being more important than what happens in their class and out on the playground. He knows about wars and loss but his father always tells him to never mind, that he'll have plenty of time to bother with that stuff when he's older.</p><p>It sounded like a promise; where most parents will hope their child never comes to know of such things, Genbu Kururugi reminds his son it's an inevitability.</p><p>Suzaku, also ten years old but realistically, unlike his precocious best friend, was amazed and couldn't think of anything more important beyond their classroom and outside on the playground.</p><p>"<em>Think</em>, Suzaku." Lelouch encourages, "In the roughly six hours we spend in school, we're only being taught the fundamentals of what it means to survive in this world. Don't you want to know how to <em>live? </em>What if they're teaching us the wrong curriculum?"</p><p>Suzaku stays silent. It sounds like the club is going to be a hierarchy of adult topics; all that will only go way over his head. He doesn't say but sounds very boring.</p><p>Lelouch looks back at him, "If we don't consider the future and just let things be decided for us then we'll be none the wiser!"</p><p>"We're just <em>kids</em>, Lelouch!"</p><p>"That's no excuse. The world will change and we need to be at the front of it. </p><p>Suzaku groans because that sounds like an awful lot of work on top of the homework they already get, "Am I going to be in it?"</p><p>"Of course you are but you'll need to pass a test. As the club's president, I can't be biased." More than just a unique extracurricular club, it sounds like Lelouch wants to start a democracy. "It won't be easy. Do you still want to join?"</p><p>Suzaku has few alternatives for fun besides recess and even fewer friends to spend his time with, Lelouch being his only one. "I guess."</p><p>"Alright. While you're in the club room and doing club tasks, you must refer to yourself as 'Japanese'."</p><p>"But that's…" Suzaku looks afraid, "I'm an <em> El </em>-"</p><p>"My club, my rules, Suzaku."</p><p>Lelouch may sound like his bossy self but Suzaku knows this is really for his sake; a way for him to accept himself rather than pick at the parts others dislike just to fit in.</p><p>"In my club, every member has a value that some number won't dampen."</p><p>Suzaku eventually says, "...Fine. I'll do it."</p><p>"You need to say it to pass."</p><p>"I'm…" Suzaku gulps, "I'm Japanese."</p><p>Lelouch smiles sticks out his hand, "Welcome to the club, Suzaku."</p><p>"What's our first order of business?"</p><p>"I caught a movie last night past my curfew and it sparked an interesting topic. Ex Machinas. Plausible escape or false hope?"</p><p>"What's an ex machina?"</p><p>"It's like a last minute miracle or surprise you need."</p><p>Suzaku brightens up like a bulb, "Ah, like finding a second pudding cup in your lunch box when you thought you only had one!"</p><p>Lelouch regards him with a sympathetic look, "There's more at stake than pudding."</p><p>Suzaku's smile is small and between apologetic and embarrassment; it's a cute display of the innocence in him.</p><p>Lelouch sighs but he can't stay irritated at his best friend. He can't be mad at him for choosing to see the world in a much brighter and better light either.</p><p>This club is only the beginning of all they're about to accomplish when they're older, evidentially still as close as they are now.</p>
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